#1 [url]

Apr 26 11 9:12 AM

I'm not sure how you choose between four different periods - 1991, late 1993, late 1995/early 1996, and then 2005.

It's harder to imagine 1991 because the Internet wasn't around and celebrity spectacle wasn't like it is now, but for Mariah to have 3 #1 singles that year and sell millions of albums was huge. She was big at Top 40, R&B, and AC, too, so she was appealing to everyone. In terms of "star power" she may not have been at the top, but again, a lot of that is due to that being a different time than we have now.

Obviously in late 1993 Mariah was huge. Her wedding was front page news, and then she hit huge with "Dreamlover" and "Hero." She was again appealing to so many people, and she had her first network special that pushed Music Box to #1 throughout the holiday season. Mariah was the commercial juggernaut of that time period.

In a sense, her popularity came to a head in late 1995 and early 1996. She was again having huge hits that appealed to millions of people, had a network special, and had a lot of media coverage. She was ruling airwaves and TV.

I do agree she became more of a personality starting in 1997, but her popularity declined so to that end her star power wasn't huge in 1998.

I suppose you could then argue it really all came to a head in 2005. She combined her huge popularity (huge hits and CD sales) with her persona; there was media coverage of her as a person to go along with the airplay and sales. If you adjust the sales of TEOM to reflect mid-90s sales, it would probably come close to the sales of her biggest CDs.